


Waterlilies

by RoryKurago



Category: Dark Matter (TV)
Genre: F/M, Plants, Space Pirates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-14 08:28:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28667754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoryKurago/pseuds/RoryKurago
Summary: Three’s unquietly psychotic; One makes everything complicated; and Four isn’t interested.Six has the equilibrium to know the need for what it is, and not make it anything else. Two might love him a little for that.
Relationships: Five | Das & Two | Portia Lin, Six | Griffin Jones/Two | Portia Lin, Three | Marcus Boone/Two | Portia Lin
Kudos: 4
Collections: Rory's 100 Themes Writing Challenge





	Waterlilies

**Author's Note:**

> 100 Themes: #4 - Waterlilies
> 
> Out of respect for the combination of (1) a conviction on first viewing that Six would be a better fuckbuddy than Three, (2) the eldritch 100 Themes, and (3) a truly disappointing fuckbuddy of my own in this Our Year Of COVID, I had to revisit this idea (which had been languishing unrealised since 2015).  
> Also Space Gardens. Favourite trope. Space gardens. Yes. Good.

She only had to fuck Three once to know he was exactly as selfish in bed as one would expect. Hate-fucking was only fun if everyone got what they were after.

She told him as much and stormed out with Three laughing at her back.

He called her frigid over breakfast the next day in a hail of roundabout ways that had Five puzzled and the others scowling. In the final straw, he had the synthesizer make a whole cucumber and placed it ceremoniously on her plate. She threw it at his head. He ducked fast enough that it smashed against the entry hatch, but the ensuing brawl left grilled protein mashed into the rug and trays scattered under the furniture. The crew unanimously left him to clean it up.

(Didn’t stop him bragging about it to One when he thought it’d draw the most blood.)

Six was reading in the common room when Two passed through later. It didn’t surprise her anymore, seeing him so academic. That insight, intelligence, random helpful trivia had to come from somewhere.

“What’s the good word today?” she said as she poured a cup of caf.

“Medicinal plants.” He flipped the screen to show her. “These ones grow in a lot of temple zones.

She leaned in to read. “You’re a man of many facets, aren’t you, Six? ‘White lotus’…”

“Thought we might pick some up next time we’re station-side. Wouldn’t hurt to butch up the medical supplies a bit.”

“Used to treat fever and inflammation,” Two read aloud. “Sounds handy.”

“And traditionally associated with purity, and rebirth,” Six added with a touch of irony.

Two gave him the ghost of a smile. “ _Tabula rasa_?”

“Clean slate.” He smiled back at her. She couldn't help but mirror.

“Maybe we should ask Android if she can grow some in the cargo bay,” she said a little dryly. “I sure wouldn’t mind having something green and growing around. Give the eyes a break.”

Six nodded, but he seemed to be chewing on something he didn’t know how to say.

Two sighed. “What’s on your mind.”

“He shouldn’ta said those things. We’re all going through some shit. You gotta right to do what you need to t’ work through that.”

Two averted her eyes. It had been the adrenaline of the casino that tipped her past control. What would happen the next time something sent her pulse through the shields? “Yeah, well. Three’s an asshole. What else is new.”

Six sighed. “Nothing, I guess. But hey, if you need to vent, I'm always here.”

It wasn’t an offer the way it had sounded, but they both recognised the idea as soon as it was out. The seed was planted.

Three was unquietly psychotic. One was sweetly over-intense, and she foresaw the fall of those cards: it would get him killed, and before that, it would get them both badly hurt. Four only ever tended his weapons solo and showed every intention of carrying that practice through every aspect of his life. Six, she thought, was the only one with the mental and emotional equilibrium to recognise the need for what it was, respect it, and keep it in check without it ruling or ruining anyone. She almost loved him a little for that.

She respected him too much to say as much, so she wished him pleasant reading, took her caf and left.

The itch hit again after they survived the space zombies debacle.

He seemed to be expecting it when she hit the hail button on his door. The rest of the crew had been down three hours. Dispersed to quarters. Functionally non-existent. She was sure the illusion of privacy was what made them both so unguardedly frank.

He opened the door after only a short delay in boxers and a tank.

“Four’s not interested,” she said flatly, “Three’s an asshole, and One’s a complication none of us need.”

He actually smothered a smile before shaking his head. “I understand what you’re feeling, but I really don’t think this is the best solution.”

She had the self-respect to not settle for engorging Three’s ego, although he smirked from his doorway crunching on a blumfruit as she stalked past back to her own room.

She gave that a week to settle. Four deigning to spar took the edge off for a while. And a metric tonne more cardio than she usually did. Six joined the sparring sessions sometimes, as if to prove that there were no hard feelings.

On the sixth day, he tapped her shoulder as she towelled off and offered her an info chip for a datapad.

“The book I was reading the other day. Plants. Where to find them. It’s—calming. There’s a lot of useful info in there. Might help take your mind off things.”

Her smile was tight but genuine. “Thanks.”

It did take her mind off things. For a while.

He agreed to accompany her, Five, and Android onto a small station when they next stopped for supplies. Android and Five went to source hydroponics materials and wall mounts. Six accompanied Two to the station’s temple level.

Bowing low to the temple attendants, he struck up a conversation about faith and renewal. Two let him charm the dedicates while she wandered the small shrine space. Holographic panels showing misty forest around the walls. A small pool was inset around a prayer platform—real water. Real flowers, with strong, waxy leaves. Fish – mechanical, or holographic maybe – swept the depths in lazy circles. Several faiths were represented around the edges of the polished stone platform.

Graphic panels. Expensive stone. Real water and flowers.

Someone had invested a lot of money in this temple. A lot of love.

Driven by alien impulses she had learned to obey, she knelt on the platform. She didn’t pray – didn’t know how, and wasn’t sure Portia Lin wouldn’t been the devotional type anyway – but she did close her eyes and try to draw the tranquillity of the space within her.

She didn’t notice Six going missing, but it felt like only a moment later that he knelt beside her sweaty and grinning.

He showed her the contents of a small bag after they left: plant bulbs. In exchange for some heavy lifting behind the scenes of the temple, they’d gifted him precious seeds. No money required.

She could have kissed him. Did, in fact: just a peck on the cheek. Sisterly.

She told herself she didn’t taste the salt on her lips later. She didn’t imagine the play of muscles over his back as he heaved crates around for the dedicates.

Android assisted with establishing a little hydroponic medical garden on one wall of the cargo bay. Four volunteered a surprisingly adept hand with enclosed plant-care. Five’s enthusiasm took her on a deep-dive into deep space oxygen bio-recyclers, on which she reported to Two regularly.

It all helped. But not forever.

Sooner rather than later, another life-or-death situation came calling. The tension built. One and Three snapped at each other so badly she near threw them into opposite walls breaking them up. They went to their quarters to sulk. Two went to the cargo bay to check on the hydroponics. Five was already there—a change of pace from helping Android fix the ship, she said. And away from the men.

Two smiled thinly and set to helping her.

Between them, they got the disorder straightened out, but by the time they finished, it was late. Five begged exhaustion. Long day. No hot cocoa—just sleep.

Two gave her a one-armed hug. “Good idea.”

Five went to bed. Two went to the gym.

She found herself at his door instead. Rather than chime and draw the attention of the Android, she knocked.

This time there was a longer delay. She counted it out in her head: getting up, shirt on, pants on, crossing to the door. Did Six sleep naked? Three did. She guessed Four did as well.

He wore no shirt this time. Open-mouthed. A little sweaty. Pupils blown.

Had she always been this aware of the multitude of tiny cues of his biology? Or only now? All the crew, or only him?

She was aware of them standing in heavy silence for a long interval before she said, “Did I interrupt?”

She was aware, too, of the deeper cadence of her own voice. The speeding up of her breathing to match his.

“Portia,” he said, almost helplessly. He used her deadname intentionally, she thought. To rile her up. Repel her. Like the monsters of the old stories, lost to themselves and brought back by the charm—the spell of who they used to be. Did he think she was a monster?

He folded his arms across his bare chest protectively. Skin. Heart. Lungs.

But he didn’t shut the door.

He hadn’t been sleeping, and he didn’t stoop to lie and say he had. When she lifted her chin and stepped into his personal space – stepped past him – his arms unfolded of their own volition to make space for her.

“Don’t make it what it isn’t,” she said softly.

His voice came out rough, and undeniably hungry: “Wouldn’t dream of it.”

She had him hooked. “Then we’ll all get through this okay.”

He locked the door and gripped her hips.

**Author's Note:**

> Honestly, what do I have to do to get back into that high school headspace of cranking out actual smut scenes instead of showing the lead up and then a Hollywood fade-out?
> 
> If you do have any tips, happy to hear them.


End file.
